Opposition Parties complain of MEC’s management of electoral process

Opposition political parties have said will hold national wide shut down protests if Malawi Electoral Commission does not address their concerns regarding 2025 general elections process

Speaking during a joint press briefing in Lilongwe officials of Democratic Progressive Party DPP, UTM and Alliance for Democracy AFORD said the commission should cancel its contract with the company that supplied Election Management Device EMD’s because have potential to affect credibility of elections

Reading their statement spokesperson of DPP Shadrick Namalomba says MEC’s refusal to have an independent electoral ICT auditor raised questions considering that such expert has been there in previous elections

The opposition political parties have asked MEC chair, chief executive officer, procurement and ICT directors to step down

They have asked the commission to use manual transmission of elections results and not hybrid system

“We called on National Registration Bureau to work side by side with MEC to ensure that no eligible voter is left out in the voter registration which is scheduled to start on Monday,” Parties

However, United Democratic Front UDF pulled out of the joint press conference at the eleventh hour

In its statement UDF claimed that the party did not participate at the briefing but only sent high level member as an observer because its national working committee has yet to convene and deliberate on matters raised in the statement by the opposition parties.

National publicity secretary of UDF Dyson Jangia says the party stands in solidarity with the opposition’s call for greater transparency and fairness in preparations for upcoming elections.

UDF has urged Malawi Electoral Commission and National Registration Bureau to take seriously the concerns raised by political parties on electoral process

The party says will provide its position and guidance once national working committee meets and assesses